Breaking Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Seven

“Don’t call me that, either,” she hissed, but she had been feeling lonely in the store’s silence… and the box was heavy… and her back had already started to ache.

Still, he couldn’t know how much she appreciated him being there helping her. A woman in a committed relationship needed to keep a man like Wes at arms’ length. But, like a whale’s arm, which was real freakin’ long, according to Thea’s children’s encyclopedia.

She meant to glare at him, but her eyes had a mind of their own as they traveled up his strong, muscular arms, thick chest, and all the way up to that masculine jawline, until she met his gaze. Her mouth went dry, all the moisture pooling down to one specific spot on her body as his icy blue stare grew heated with promise. Like he’d literally kneel at her feet and use those sinful lips to worship her pus—

“In the back!” she blurted out before clearing her throat, hoping it cleared her wanton thoughts too.

“What?” His eyes narrowed before she nodded toward the box and pointed toward the shoe area. “Oh, right. Yes, ma’am. Will do.”

Naomi massaged her temple. What the hell am I supposed to do with him?

“So how was work?”

The tension in her shoulders relaxed at the change of subject. Dear sweet baby Jesus, praise the Lord for small talk.

Mundane conversation was safe. She could do that, had actually perfected it with friends and strangers alike for years. It’s easy to hide secrets behind boring, meaningless words.

“Uh, i-it was good. My first day back since… since you last saw me.”

There was a pause and she was afraid he was going to come up with the same questions they’d ended on two weeks ago, but he surprised her, yet again.

“Congrats! That had to be a relief. You seem like the type who’s unable to sit still for too long. But I’m sure it was exhausting, too.”

“Um, yeah…” Not entirely comfortable with how good it felt that his reaction had been completely different from Dean’s. Him knowing exactly how she felt, no matter how ordinary the feelings, was refreshing.

No. Not refreshing. Unsettling. It’s unsettling. Hell, I can’t go swooning over any guy that’s nice to me, damnit. Especially not if he looks like that.

“It was and… I am. Exhausted, I mean.” She lifted a box of shoes and waved generally over the wall, studiously ignoring the impressive tattoos peeking out from his shirt. “We, um… need to unload these and shelve them.”

“Can do.” Wes nodded and grabbed a box. She waited to see which one he would get before reaching in. No fingers touching, electricity-sharing clichés for her, thank you very much.

“What do you do again?” Hell, he genuinely sounded interested. “Your daughter said something that sounded an awful lot like ‘sexy assistant,’ but I feel like that might not be the whole story.” He winked at her and Naomi snorted before shelving her box.

“Good night, that girl’s gonna kill me someday. I’m an executive assistant to Gail Haynesworth, CEO of Charitable Technologies International.”

Wes paused before grabbing another box and tilted his head with a grin. “No shit?”

Pride at his response filled her chest. Dean liked to remind her how he’d gotten her foot in the door at CTI, but Naomi was the one who’d fought tooth and nail to be Gail’s EA, despite her lack of a bachelor’s degree.

It was a big opportunity in a rural county like Ashland, or anywhere, really. Most of CTI’s work was digital and overseas, so even though the main office was small, Gail’s reach wasn’t. The nonprofit had distribution centers all over and shared life-changing tech to non-industrialized countries across the globe. Naomi was proud as hell that she was the right-hand woman to one of the most influential nonprofit execs in the world.

“Yeah, I’ve been with CTI for a while. It’s a great job. I’m learning from the best on how to be the best.” Was that braggy? Sure as shit, she was bragging, but she didn’t get to flaunt herself often, and getting the wide smile on Wes’s face felt fucking fantastic.

His smile fell as he seemed to be thinking. “CTI... CTI... CTI, CTI, CTI... I heard something about them a while back, I think. Weren’t they in a big lawsuit or something?”

Naomi huffed. “Yes. It was a nightmare. We make, sell, and donate computer systems and tech around the world and we were caught up in some bullshit patent suit between several other companies. Anyway, everyone was prepped and ready to go for a trial and then BOOM, the next day we settled with the defending party for pennies on the dollar of what the suit was worth. There was a huge turnover in the company, tons of my friends were fired. Thankfully, the board kept Gail and she kept me. That was all a couple of years ago. But things have been... tense ever since.”

Wes nodded. “Shit, that sucks. At least you kept your job, I guess?”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “That was a plus. Although now I’ve been roped into some stupid party planning committee. It’s turned into one of my main job duties and I did not work my ass off to plan parties for a bunch of old sexist white men. Nothing wrong with being an event coordinator, but I didn’t sign up for it, ya know? I hate parties and—what?”

It’d taken her a few boxes of shelving until she realized it, but Wes was stock-still and staring at her.

“What? Do I have somethin’ on me?” She patted herself and looked down briefly before returning to his face when he spoke.

“No, no. You’re fine.” His gaze left hers as he fidgeted with the shoebox in his hands. “A party planner, huh? Is that um... is that the Ashland Elite Scholarship Party?”

“Oh, pfft.” She waved her hand. “Yes. It’s supposed to be some charity event with all the bigwigs in Ashland County. The date and time and event list are stupidly secretive, blah, blah, blah. Gail and I both think the theatrics and dramatics are stupid as hell, but what can ya do?”

There was another pause as Wes slowly shelved one of the final boxes.

“Ellie actually went last year.”

“No way?” Naomi propped her hand on her hip. “That’s wild. What a small world. I don’t remember her name on the list, but there were plenty on it. I was only there for a few minutes to make sure it was runnin’ smoothly, but then I had to leave—” She cut herself off, not wanting to admit that she’d had to leave because her Dean was too jealous to allow her to stay. For once, he didn’t seem to notice her caginess.

“A list? For what? Of attendees?”

She barely knew this man, so it could’ve been her imagination, but his voice sounded stilted as he talked. For what reason, she had no clue. They were just talking about a freakin’ party, for goodness’ sakes.

“Yeah, the party planners, aka mostly me” —she rolled her eyes— “get a guest list each year.”

“Oh, um…” There was a hitch in his voice, like he was excited but cautious. “I know Ellie met someone there last year… maybe a… scholarship donor, or something. I’m not sure, but I know she’s been trying to figure out who it was.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. I can give her the list and she can see if she recognizes their name or something.”

Wes’s hand paused over the last box. “That would… that would be amazing.” He was choosing his words carefully, and she narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t understand why he was being so odd, but she shrugged it off. Wes could be as weird as he wanted, but if she could help Ellie out, even in the slightest, she’d do it. Giving her a stupid guest list after Ellie had been so kind on one of the worst days of her life was the least she could do. It kind of actually felt good to break the rules for once, even if it was a ridiculous one.

“I’ve got my laptop in my car. I’ll just go get it right now. I think I might have a flash drive or something.”

“Wow, yeah, that’d be great.” He huffed out a laugh, like he couldn’t believe his luck—weirdo—and threaded his fingers through his blue-black hair before holding out his hand. “I can go get it for you, though. You don’t need to be walking out there alone at night and that way you can hold down the fort.”

Naomi eyed him warily, wondering what his game was. He was chivalrous and thoughtful… and had to be up to something.

Or maybe he’s actually one of the good ones.

She resisted a groan and bit the inside of her lip. It was exhausting trying to find things wrong with him. It would be so much easier to stay away if he was just another jerk.

“Sure, thanks. That’d be nice.” She retrieved her keys from her purse behind the counter and tossed them to him. “It’s on the floorboard of the front passenger seat.”

He nodded and set off, in no time coming back with her laptop bag.

“Kinda unsafe to leave it just out in the open like that, you know.” He gave her a pointed look and she almost wanted to laugh. She’d take some fool out on the street with her pepper spray any day over an angry, volatile Dean.

“Thank you for your concern.” She unloaded the laptop and fired it up.

“Here, I’ve got a flash drive.” He pulled his keys from his pocket and unhooked what had looked like a normal key. He pulled it apart, revealing a USB port.

“Well that’s nifty.” She took it from him, again making sure not to touch him, before examining it. “Thanks.” She uploaded the document onto Wes’s flash drive before ejecting the USB.

“That was easy enough.” He took the fake key and returned it to his key ring before stuffing them into his pocket again. “Sure you won’t get in trouble with this?”

Naomi waved her hand and trilled her lips. “If it’ll help Ellie with whatever she needs, I’m down. That’s got this year’s list, and prior lists too, by the way. And, like I said, the whole secrecy thing is stupid as all get out. I couldn’t care less whether their little party was ‘outed.’ Maybe then they’d take me off the freakin’ party plannin’ committee.”

“Fair…” Wes laughed but scrubbed the back of his midnight hair. “Thank you for your help, Naomi.”

The fine strands looked so soft and she almost got lost in imagining running her fingers through them. Her eyes panned back to his face and her cheeks warmed at the seductive curl of his lips.

Seriously? A simple ‘thank you’ is all I need to get hot and bothered these days? Damn.

She snapped her attention back to her computer. “Well, I guess you’ll be leavin’ then. See ya.” Mad at herself that she even cared about where he was going, she stuffed her laptop in her bag, maybe a little too roughly.

“What?” The obvious question in his voice made her pause before tucking her laptop under the counter.

“I figured you were leavin’? You got what you came for, didn’t you?”

Wes jolted back as if she’d slapped him. The genuine confusion and hurt in his eyes made her second-guess herself and all her preconceived notions about him.

He stepped forward and got so close that comforting citrus and cedar flowed over her. She barely resisted inhaling on a deep breath, but when he stroked his hand down the outside of her arm, she couldn’t hold back her gasp. The thin material of her sweater did nothing to stop the warmth of his fingertips and good God, did she wish she was wearing short sleeves instead.

“Naomi, I came here because Nora called me to help with the security. I stayed for you, not some list. I didn’t even know you had it.”

Oh... right. I’m an idiot. But what’s his play, then?

Now she was the confused one, and no matter how badly she wanted to explore whatever this was, she didn’t have the time, nor the relationship status, to play games.

She stepped back, out of the orbit of his citrus-cedar scent and away from his gentle touch. The space should’ve made her feel better, but it felt like ripping a Band-Aid from a wound that wasn’t ready for fresh air.

“I-I really should be gettin’ back to it. Nora should be here at any—”

The Sasha Saves cell phone dinged and Naomi checked the text.

HEAD BIC: Hay, girl, hayyy. Can’t come back tonight. Got a thing. But Superman should be good company

“Who... BIC? I swear this girl speaks a different language sometimes.”

Wes came up behind her and read over her shoulder. She fought the instinct to cover the phone but remembered that this was the Sasha Saves phone, not hers, and this was Wes, not Dean. There was no need to brace herself for a needless jealousy blowup or interrogation.

“Ah, that’s Nora. She definitely does and somehow I’m fluent. Lucky me. Do you want me to translate?”

“Ugh, yes, please.”

Wes laughed and took the phone from her hand. “BIC stands for ‘Bitch In Charge,’ I believe. She’s saying that she won’t be able to come back to Sasha Saves tonight but… she made sure I’m here.” His eyes narrowed at the screen before he typed. “Okay, I told her we’ll keep the place afloat.”

Naomi snorted before she realized what he meant. “Wait, you’re stayin’ with me until my shift is over?”

Wes’s brows furrowed. “Yeah, I mean, you’ve only got, what, like...” —he checked his digital watch— “less than an hour before you gotta close up?”

“Yes, but it’s my first night here! Shouldn’t I be, I don’t know, supervised? I don’t know what the hell I’m doin’.”

Wes laughed. “Look, I don’t come around here a lot, but I know a little bit about the store. I can help unload boxes from the back, I’m great at math if you need it, and I can make sure you’re safe. You shouldn’t be here all alone at night.”

Her emotions were warring inside her, unable to decide whether she was flattered by his chivalry or offended by his assumption that she was incapable of taking care of herself. She chose offended. Getting caught up in his manners was going to tear her to pieces inside if she let it.

“Thank you, but I’m not interested. I’d rather just be by myself.”

Her voice ticked up at the end of her insistence and she silently cursed. Thankfully, Wes didn’t seem to notice and only rolled his eyes.

She felt a pang of remorse at finally getting beneath that layer of kindness. But she had to keep her distance with him and letting in even an inch of his charm was going to screw her up and potentially the life she was trying to lead.

Besides, almost everyone had a breaking point. It was best to find it out ASAP rather than be slapped in the face with it when it was too late. Literally, in her case.

“If you don’t want me around, fine. But I’m not leaving you here alone. I’ll just sit behind the counter while you work, is that fair?”

Naomi narrowed her eyes at him, still not totally understanding his game. She wanted—no—needed him to go home. If Dean found out she’d been alone this long with another man, he’d go apeshit. Let alone the fact that every minute with Wes made her want an hour more.

She was also seriously considering that something was wrong with her in the head. The way her chest filled with warmth made her have to admit to herself that she was secretly glad he was putting up a fight against leaving. It was refreshing to be fought for, instead of fought with.

“Fine,” she finally agreed. “But don’t bother me and let me deal with any customers that come in. Got it?”

He lifted his arms in a hands-off position before miming zipping his lips closed.

The last forty-five minutes of the shift went by slowly. Dean called two more times, just ‘checkin’ in to make sure she was okay.’ Each conversation was an eternity, but thankfully Wes pulled his phone trick every time, giving her a legitimate out.

Unfortunately, absolutely no customers came in, so it was just her and Wes, all alone.

There’d only been a few shoppers since she’d started working. Nora warned her that Friday nights in a college town were slow, but it was a straight-up ghost town. And the only company she had was the man who was beginning to feel like he was studying her.

Every time she got near him, her body knew instinctively. Her stomach tightened and her core grew heavy with desire. When he wasn’t merely a few feet away, all she had to do was look up and there he was. And she looked up a lot. By the end of the shift, her nerves were shot and she was ready to hightail it the hell outta there.

They closed down the shop together in silence, following the list of instructions for each volunteer and putting the store money in the safe to be counted the following morning, turning off the lights, and locking up.

Wes led her around to the back of the building with his hand lightly on the middle of her back. She should’ve shrugged it off. She’d definitely intended to, but she found herself leaning into him instead.

Trouble, trouble, trouble. I’m gonna get myself into so much fucking trouble.

They walked in tandem, despite the fact that he was a foot taller. There was no way his strides were as short as hers, and yet, it was almost as if they’d practiced being in sync. She analyzed him until she realized he’d actually slowed down to match her steps. His head was on a swivel, too, looking out for them.

Her heart kicked up. It felt good to be protected. After her daddy passed, Naomi had to watch out for herself, and frankly, she’d been failing miserably at it since she and Dean crashed into each other.

As they rounded the back of the building to her car, Wes’s warm hand on her back held her closer, and she let him. His touch made her feel more secure than she had in... years. When they got to her Nissan, brightly lit in the streetlight, she used the fob to unlock the car and reached to open the driver’s side, but Wes got to the handle first and opened it with a damn smirk.

“After you, milady.”

Naomi scowled to keep from giggling like a simp at his dramatic bow and hand flourish. She climbed into the car, considering saying something snarky, because damn him for making her belly flip. But he hadn’t done anything to deserve her derision. He’d been a complete gentleman all night, keeping his word at not bothering her—which, coincidentally, had bothered the hell outta her, but no way was she telling him that.

“Thanks for, you know, seein’ me to my car. You’re still a troublemaker, though.”

Oh God, am I flirting? Shit.

“Is that so? I prefer gentleman, but tomato, tomahto.” His sincere grin widened in the streetlight before his brow wrinkled with an emotion she wasn’t sure of in the dim light.

“Okay... well. Bye.” She awkwardly reached for her door, but Wes held his hand out against the door to stop her.

“Wait—”

Her breath caught in her lungs as soon as he slapped his hand against the window, lodging his body between the car door and her, closing her in.

“Shit, sorry, but… please, Naomi, before you go again… tell me why you won’t leave him.”

His words came out in a whisper, but it felt like he’d shouted them into her soul. The concern on his face was clear and she could tell he was begging her to answer him, almost as if the need to know the answer was driving him crazy. But his hand was on the inside of the door and she couldn’t close it and with his pointed question, she felt trapped.

“That’s none of your damn business, Snake, now get the hell away from my car.”

To her surprise, he snatched his hand and backed up, lifting his hands and lacing them behind his head, exposing a peek at his Adonis belt. Instead of allowing herself the second to enjoy the view, Naomi slammed the door and started her car, barely giving herself even enough time to check the mirrors before she backed out. A warm tear joined the heat his question had brought to her cheeks and she swiped angrily at her eyes, refusing to believe she was crying over leaving a veritable stranger. Over the path she’d been trying to convince herself was the right decision.

It wasn’t until she was turning onto the main street that she finally looked in the rearview mirror.

Wes was still standing under the light, watching her, worry etched in his face, his hands on his hips in a superhero pose.

Superman, that’s what Nora called him and Thea liked to pretend he was a king. But Naomi’s life wasn’t a stupid comic movie, or a silly fairy tale, and Wes sure as hell was no damn hero.

He was the villain in this story, plain and simple. He had to be. If she didn’t pull her shit together, lock these frivolous feelings down in a deep, dark cave and throw away the key, he’d get her killed in a heartbeat.